Ed Oswald

Dell's quarterly profit plummeted 51 percent in the second quarter, and the company disclosed it was the target of a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into the ways it is reporting its revenue.

The Round Rock, Texas based PC manufacturer said it would look to improve its financial situation, possibly explaining its broadened relationship with AMD, also announced Thursday.

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The Bush administration suffered a stunning defeat Thursday as a federal judge in Detroit ruled that the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program was unconstitutional, and ordered an immediate halt of all surveillance.

The ruling also seemed to indicate the program was an abuse of presidential power, possibly setting the stage for an Congressional investigation into President Bush's conduct surrounding the order to engage in domestic spying.

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Just one day after the Electronic Frontier Foundation complained to the Federal Trade Commission over AOL’s release of search data, another interest group followed suit, telling the FTC that AOL’s breach was intentional. The San Diego, Calif. based World Privacy Forum alleged in its complaint that AOL was deceptive and engaged in unfair business practices with the release of the data.

The complaint demands that the FTC launch an investigation and fine the company. In its response to the latest action, AOL has defended itself by repeating its earlier claims that the release was a mistake and the fault of a careless researcher. The company has said it has launched an internal investigation to ensure that in the future information is vetted before it's posted publicly. The FTC has not announced whether it intends to investigate AOL.

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BearShare has returned, but this time as a legal service. New owners iMesh said Thursday they were releasing a beta version of the software through their subsidiary MusicLab, which will operate using a paid subscription and single-track purchase model.

Free Peers, the original company behind BearShare, agreed in May to pay $30 million to the Recording Industry Association of America to avoid a copyright infringement lawsuit. The company also disbanded and promised to not operate any unlicensed music download services.

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CBS said Thursday that in conjunction with former NBC "Today" anchor Katie Couric's debut on the CBS Evening News September 5, the network would begin simulcasting the nightly news program live on the Internet. While the streaming of a network news product is not new, the live aspect of the offering is.

The network was able to offer the new feature after renegotiating carriage agreements with its affiliates nationwide. CBS had to make some concessions, including the requirement that users register with an address so the simulcast is viewed when CBS Evening News airs in their time zone.

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Apple will meet with representatives of consumer rights groups from Sweden, Norway and Denmark to discuss concerns over the closed nature of iTunes, an executive with Sweden's consumer rights agency told Reuters on Wednesday. The meeting is expected to take place sometime in September, although no solid date has been set.

The Cupertino, Calif. company has responded to concerns voiced by the groups, but has also requested that the sides meet in person. Apple reportedly wants to explain its position, and likely why it intends to keep the iTunes Music Store an iPod-only service.

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The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) said Tuesday that it had reached a new agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce that would technically keep the group under American control through 2011.

Although the initial agreement is for one year, the Commerce Department has the option to extend the agreement by an additional year over the next four years. The agreement would take effect on October 1, the day after the current contract expires. The new agreement is sure to reignite the international debate over control of the Internet.

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YouTube disclosed Tuesday that it has plans to eventually offer music videos from the service in an effort to continue growing its already booming user base. The site is currently in negotiations with the major music labels, and will offer the videos at no charge to users when and if the service launches.

YouTube has essentially come from nowhere to become one of the top 50 most visited sites on the Web according to Web analytics firm comScore. The site is now the 40th most visited site with 16 million users during the month of July, a 20 percent increase over the previous month.

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Real said it would offer Windows Media support in its open source Linux software Tuesday, made possible through the licensing deal and settlement it signed with Microsoft in October of last year. Previously, support for Microsoft's audio and video formats was only available through closed-source modules.

The capabilities would be made part of Real's Helix player, which the company created to begin porting its software to the Linux platform. While the player would be able to play standard Windows Media files, those with copy protection would not be playable, the company said. Real is looking into providing support for other formats, such as AAC used in iTunes, although those moves would require additional licensing agreements.

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Google on Wednesday rolled out its free wireless Internet service in its hometown of Mountain View, Calif., covering 11.5 square miles of the city with some 380 access points. A 1Mbit per second connection would be provided to each user, who would be able to use the network by signing up for a free Google account.

"This network is a way for us to give back to and engage with the community where our headquarters are," product manager Minnie Ingersoll said. "It has been has been tremendously rewarding to partner with the local government, the schools, the library, the neighborhood associations, and all of our trusted testers to introduce the power of free, wireless Internet connectivity to the city."

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Microsoft acknowledged Wednesday that a glitch in its patch intended to fix several security vulnerabilities within Internet Explorer may cause the browser to crash when visiting certain Web sites. According to the company, the issue occurs when running Internet Explorer 6 SP1 on either Windows XP or Windows 2000.

Microsoft also said that the bulletin would be re-released on August 22 along with a patch to correct the problem. The company has provided a hotfix in the meantime for affected customers to use until the new patch is ready.

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AOL said Wednesday that it had acquired GameDaily, one of the largest gaming sites on the Web, along with its business publication GameDaily Biz. Financial terms were not disclosed. The site would become the flagship brand in the AOL Games network, and merged into AOL's current offerings.

Like last year, AOL has been active in the acquisitions department. So far this year, the company has acquired four companies: Web-based IM provider Userplane, online video ad firm Lightningcast, video search firm Truveo, and now GameDaily.

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Apple silently pushed an upgrade to its Boot Camp dual-booting software on Tuesday, offering support for the latest Intel-based Macs and better hardware support among other enhancements. The Cupertino company recommended that users of the previous version upgrade to the newest release to take advantage of the new features.

"You don't need to partition your hard drive again (unless you want to change its size) or reinstall your Macintosh and Windows software or documents," Apple said on its Web site. However, the company said it was important to update the Boot Camp Assistant software, create a new Mac drivers CD, and install the new software in Windows.

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Apple is attempting to protect it trademarks by sending out cease-and-desist orders to companies using names for their products that are similar to its iconic iPod. The letters were sent to at least two companies, Profit Pod and TightPod, Silicon.com reports.

Profit Pod makes a device that compiles data from vending machines, while TightPod is a manufacturer for laptop covers. According to a copy of a letter obtained by the technology site, Apple asserts that the names are too similar to its iPod, among other reasons.

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Sharman Networks said Tuesday that its Altnet division had sued StreamCast Networks, creator of the Morpheus peer-to-peer client and network, claiming the company infringed on three separate patents related to efficiently operating a P2P network. The suit was filed in federal court in California.

The fight between the two companies goes all the way back to 2002, when Sharman-owned Kazaa locked users of the Morpheus client out of its network. From there the relationship between the two networks soured, leading to Tuesday's legal action against StreamCast.

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